Call for more volunteer car drivers to help ambulance service in Lancashire

It's 9am and I'm in the passenger seat of Andy's car. He's recently retired and gives up three days a week to work as a volunteer car driver for the North West Ambulance Service.

The evening before his shift he'll be emailed a list of the job he needs to go on, including the addresses of patients and where he then needs to drop them off.

In the morning he then heads out to his first job, where he'll collect a patient who has a hospital or doctor's appointment.

He is one of 310 volunteer car drivers in the North West, and one of 150 in Manchester.

He deals with patients who are classed as 'Sitter 1', meaning they do not need specialist assistance, are able to move and walk but may be in need of help to get to an appointment if they have an injury or live in a remote area.

"It's a role that's appreciated on a daily basis. You get thanked a lot. It is rewarding and you do feel like you're doing something to help someone who is, well, they're not well people. But they're always cheerful and you can do something to make their day."

The North West Ambulance Service has thanked the volunteer car drivers for the work they do, saying their help means pressure is taken off ambulance staff, who can then respond to emergency calls, and also helps alleviate pressure on NHS Services.

Tony Lam, from NWAS, told us:

"The NHS is an evolving organisation. The way we are dealing with services is changing. Volunteers can move patients in different areas so we are looking to increase the number of volunteers we use, because they bring a new level of care and compassion that patients need access to."

Of the 600,000 'Sitter 1' patients who needed to be taken to, or from, appointments, in 2017/18, 225,000 of those were made by volunteers.

Just two weeks ago, Andy had to take a patient from hospital in Preston, to her home in Kent. She had been injured while on holiday in the Lake District and had no way of getting home:

"I was in Gravesend, it Kent. She needed taking back home - it was a 530 mile round trip. I volunteered for it and I really enjoyed it. There was a lot of talking, and a lot of snoring. She fell asleep!"

NWAS now says they need more volunteers like Andy to help out - by the end of this year they are hoping to have 500 regular volunteers out on the road.